Gamehaven is just skiable with a 1/3 K small loop at the top of the hill and a dangerous icy downhill (which I didn't take). Manufactured snow conditions are rough, dirty in spots and icy, but you can ski without driving 1.5 hours to the Cities. No question the snow will soften up with this afternoons warm up. Keep doing your colder weather and snow dances!

(Andy Wood)

If you are fairly desperate and don't want to drive to the metroplex, the sledding hill can be enjoyably slalomed down, and you can do uphill reps on the trail. The uphill trail portion is in pretty good shape. Otherwise it's a disaster zone.

(Joey Keillor)

If you value your life and/or your skis, don't ski Gamehaven until there's a snow event and a new grooming report. Dirt, grass, rocks, ice and heavy equipment damage predominate throughout the system, including at the trailhead. Use the eastern disc golf access if you must go. There's a skiable loop northeast of the dam that one can get a workout on. Even so, the fast descents have patches of grass that need to be negotiated. Quarry Hill is a much better alternative for Rochester area skiers.

(Mark Orlowski)

Unfortunately the team has tried snow farming, with a pay loader, to extend the man made snow trail. The result is a lot of dirty snow, and significant damage to the natural snow trails. Man made trail, about 1.5 km, out and back is groomed, but dirty in spots and uneven in others. Rattler not really skiable, Hammer is thin.

(Jim Bennett)

We have about 1.4 km (.7 km one way) of man made snow on an out and back trail, which has been groomed, and has a track on both sides, grooming is decent, but far from perfect. Rattler and Hammer have a wide and firm skate deck, but lots of dirty spots you need to avoid. Pipe and Meander not groomed, can bushwack on classic skis. Still making snow to try to extend loop before the next warm up.

(Jim Bennett)

Tried to ski classic today but Rattler only had a skate deck set, at least where I was, which was pretty impressive, I just had the wrong skis! Both snow guns were running on The Pipe. Meander still appears too thin to have any grooming in place. Fairly crunchy with some ice but very nice snow conditions. Still not enough that I'd say to use your best skis. Bring a B pair.

(Mark Stanfield)

Skating deck in the bowl has firmed up; there are places where snow has blown in. Great classic kick, but would be like skating on Jiffy Extra Crunchy today. Pipe and Meaner are still not regroomed.

(Jim Bennett)

Unfortunately the big storm only left about 3" of snow. The bad news: Much of the snow on the west trails (The Pipe, Meander) blew off. These trails have not been groomed since the storm. The good news: Most of that blowing snow wound up in the bowl below, so there is pretty good skiing (about 4.5 Km) on lower Rattler and Hammer. Hammer is the best. John went around those two with the PB this morning. Still blowing in some areas. Skate deck was firming up with the cold weather, was soft and deep in some areas, windblown in others, and thin and dirty in others. Was nice for classic even without a track. The top of Storbakken looks like a gnome's playground on a frozen planet, with four giant mounds of snow and ice. Grooming plans: Park and Rec is working on pushing all that snow onto Rattler, and were going to move the guns to the bottom of the hill this afternoon to create a long runout below the hill. Next will be putting the guns on Rattler oval by the upper parking lot. Hopefully they can pack The Pipe and Meander later in the week, and those trails will be mostly skiable. Lots of grass poking through now.

(Jim Bennett)

What a difference a few days of very cold temps, man-made, and nature-made snow makes! At 4° and strong winds, conditions were challenging. The gusts have blown snow over all the trails. Wonderful amount of snow all over the trails. I brought my B skis and those are a safe bet. No need for rock skis, but I still wouldn't bring your best set just yet. Great work by the snowmaking crews.

Photos:

(Mark Stanfield)

If you haven't been to, or heard of Gamehaven Park, like me, get out there ASAP. I only learned of this place yesterday, but the city is investing a ton of time, equipment, and manpower into pretty impressive trail infrastructure and actual snowmaking. I can't believe I'm saying it so I'll say it again: snowmaking. I've included pictures of both snow guns which were in operation this morning and will remain in a 24/7 configuration for the next several days with these incredible temperatures. I spoke with one of the 5 or 6 crew members who were out there and you can see that they are working hard to build an extensive Nordic trail system. These are city employees who will be out there, even at night, moving the guns and throwing snow down. Totally stoked. The conditions this morning were at least 3 inches of snow and should support a decent type of ski, maybe not your best planks but still excellent snow. Mostly fresh thrown "powder" with some icy crunch and a very thin packed base below. Let's hope the temps stay way down!

Photos:

(Mark Stanfield)